Arcanepotato@crazypeople.online
on 18 Mar 00:16
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Not an expert but I am a chemical engineer and that means everyone thinks I know how to make meth.
I think the main reason is that fires in stills are self limiting. The process is creating the fuel (ethanol vapours) and once the still goes boom it’s not creating more vapor. So explosion, but no ongoing fire.
Chem lab fires come from the reagents, like red phosphorus and lithium metal. So you have stashes of this stuff sitting around so if it catches fire the fire has lots of fuel.
phdepressed@sh.itjust.works
on 18 Mar 00:26
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Need toxic chemicals to make meth. So not just fire but a very toxic fire not to mention the presence of addicts, gangs, and likely other drugs.
Short version, distillation isn’t a chemical process but a simple physical state change from liquid to gas and back. Alcohol vapors can be explosive when mixed with Oxygen in an appropriate ratio, but there generally is no potential source of ignition between the boiling chamber and the cooling chamber and the expanding vapors push the oxygen out of the system early on in a production cycle.
Producing meth, however, is a multi-step process requiring both chemical and physical state changes with a panoply of reagents and waste products which are corrosive, toxic, flammable, explosive, or even potentially radioactive. Some of those waste products are gasses that react explosiely with air, or volatile organic compounds which have to be vented from the production equipment and subsequently settle and condense into a residue that contaminates all surfaces in or near the meth lab. That residue can include substances which ignite spontaneously on contact with water, further increasing the risk of fire or explosion and turning any firefighting operations into a hazmat operation.
This is why firefighters typically work to protect surrounding structures, but let the meth lab burn. That is, if it is already known to be a meth lab. Between the toxic chemicals and the difficulty of dealing with various chemical fires it is safer to just let it burn itself out if possible.
SaltSong@startrek.website
on 18 Mar 01:07
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Distilling is dangerous is it goes wrong.
Making meth is dangerous even if everything goes right.
threaded - newest
Not an expert but I am a chemical engineer and that means everyone thinks I know how to make meth.
I think the main reason is that fires in stills are self limiting. The process is creating the fuel (ethanol vapours) and once the still goes boom it’s not creating more vapor. So explosion, but no ongoing fire.
Chem lab fires come from the reagents, like red phosphorus and lithium metal. So you have stashes of this stuff sitting around so if it catches fire the fire has lots of fuel.
Need toxic chemicals to make meth. So not just fire but a very toxic fire not to mention the presence of addicts, gangs, and likely other drugs.
And the toxic shit poisons where it’s made even if it doesn’t explode.
I mean, they’re dangerous enough to be banned pretty much everywhere.
Short version, distillation isn’t a chemical process but a simple physical state change from liquid to gas and back. Alcohol vapors can be explosive when mixed with Oxygen in an appropriate ratio, but there generally is no potential source of ignition between the boiling chamber and the cooling chamber and the expanding vapors push the oxygen out of the system early on in a production cycle.
Producing meth, however, is a multi-step process requiring both chemical and physical state changes with a panoply of reagents and waste products which are corrosive, toxic, flammable, explosive, or even potentially radioactive. Some of those waste products are gasses that react explosiely with air, or volatile organic compounds which have to be vented from the production equipment and subsequently settle and condense into a residue that contaminates all surfaces in or near the meth lab. That residue can include substances which ignite spontaneously on contact with water, further increasing the risk of fire or explosion and turning any firefighting operations into a hazmat operation.
This is why firefighters typically work to protect surrounding structures, but let the meth lab burn. That is, if it is already known to be a meth lab. Between the toxic chemicals and the difficulty of dealing with various chemical fires it is safer to just let it burn itself out if possible.
Distilling is dangerous is it goes wrong.
Making meth is dangerous even if everything goes right.